THE SEDUCTION OF HIS WIFE - Tiffany Clare
St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 978-0-312-38183-7
February 2011
Historical Romance

London , 1848

Having married at the tender age of fifteen, Emma Hallaway has not seen her husband for twelve years. She has long overcome any hope of a reunion, and now concentrates her time and energy on her art, erotic portraits that have earned her a small fortune over the years. When Emma's anonymity and reputation are threatened, she is driven to meet her blackmailer at a brothel, the last place she would expect to encounter her estranged husband. Although Emma tells herself she has moved on, seeing Richard brings all of her old yearnings back to life, but the pain as well.

The male protagonist, Richard, Earl of Asbury is not a particularly nice person. After marrying at age nineteen, the girl of his father's choosing and at his father's behest, he stays only long enough to consummate and leaves the country to take up the life of an adventurer. Forgetting the girl left behind, he makes a fortune in the illicit opium trade. Now older, wiser, and desiring a normal life, he has the intention of taking up the earldom he inherited upon his father's death. He sells out of his business to settle down and resume his responsibilities, with his enthusiasm for the idea increasing exponentially in discovering a newfound attraction to his wife.  Realizing he wants her, but must overcome her reserve and the hurts of the past, he follows her from London back to their country estate, where in his desire to pick up the pieces of their marriage, Richard sets out to woo his own wife.

While Richard is bent on seduction, Emma remains outwardly reticent, but inwardly torn. This is really where I became confused by the relationship, as it seemed in the beginning that Emma and Richard were barely acquainted when they married, but then she admits to being in love with him and pining during the years of his absence, and is now afraid to give in to him for fear that he will walk out of her life again. Meanwhile, Richard is surprisingly patient in his “wooing.” Thus, she succumbs, her qualms overcome by loneliness and a yearning for motherhood to fill the void in her life.

Although he is successful in his “seduction,” Richard initially appears only bent on his own gratification. After having proven so forbearing in overcoming Emma's resistance to resuming marital relations, their first real sexual encounter after their disastrous wedding night twelve years prior, he is callous, insensitive, and sexually explicit to the point of crudeness. As the relationship develops, however, their subsequent sexual encounters become more frequent, daring, and graphic. While this is pretty steamy stuff, I found myself at times turned off a bit by the vulgar language used when the author portrayed intimacies through Richard's point of view.

The premise of this book was interesting and rather mysterious, involving scandalous paintings, blackmail, and attempted murder, but THE SEDUCTION OF HIS WIFE is very much a story of passion repressed and brought to life. While Emma's innate sensuality manifests itself in her art, she craves the physical passion that should have been hers in marriage, but was denied by Richard's long absence. The discovery of mutual, uninhibited pleasure is, thus, a big part of their developing relationship. For readers looking for a steamy romance, THE SEDUCTION OF HIS WIFE isn't likely to disappoint, as the sexual tension runs very high, and the encounters are frequent. Additionally, there is an intriguing and equally lusty secondary romance between Richard's swarthy Italian business partner, Dante, and Emma's widowed sister, Grace.

Victoria